My political godfather, the late Gil Carmichael, fought hard for a new state constitution. A key purpose was to strengthen the office of Governor. He called Mississippi’s chief executive “one of the weakest in the nation.” As one of the pioneers of the modern Republican Party in Mississippi, he would be aghast that the Republican controlled Legislature is actively considering two bills that would do the opposite.
House Bill 1013 introduced by Rep. Trey Lamar of Senatobia, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, provides, effectively, for a takeover of the Division of Medicaid by the Legislature. The bill would abolish the Division of Medicaid as an executive agency under the Governor. Instead, it would put the agency under the control of a new Medicaid Commission. Further, the Lt. Governor, currently Delbert Hosemann, would get to appoint a majority of the commission members, with a sneaky assist by the Speaker of the House, currently Philip Gunn.
As passed by the House, the bill provides for four commission members to be appointed by the Lt. Governor and three by the Governor, currently Tate Reeves. However, the bill further requires the Lt. Governor to consider recommendations from the Speaker of the House for two of those appointments. As Bobby Harrison explains in his Feb. 3 Mississippi Today column, this last provision sneaks around a constitutional separation of powers restriction. The Speaker cannot directly appoint members to an executive agency since he is in the legislative branch. (The Lt. Governor constitutionally serves in the executive but operates in the legislative branch as President of the Senate.)
The bill sailed through the House by a vote of 102 to 15 with five absent or not voting, far more than needed to overcome any veto. Hosemann double-referred the bill to the Senate Medicaid Committee and the Accountability, Efficiency, Transparency Committee.
Senate Bill 2727 introduced by Sen. Mike Thompson of Long Beach simply brought forward code sections dealing with the Mississippi Department of Archives and History, not an unusual way to get legislation started. Once it got to the Senate floor, Thompson offered an amendment to change the way members of the department’s board get appointed.
Created in 1902, Archives and History collects and promulgates the state’s history, manages the state’s historic preservation program, and manages state operated museums including the Governors’ Mansion. It has been a very unpolitical agency by design. The law provides for its board to appoint its own trustees subject to Senate confirmation.
Thompson’s change would assign appointment power to the Governor (5) and the Lt. Governor (4). While not a dilution of current gubernatorial power, this would continue the Legislature’s move to limit governor appointments.
This bill sailed through the Senate 34 to 14 with one voting present and three absent or not voting, again enough to override a veto. As this was written, Gunn had not referred it to any House committee.
Despite the authors’ claims these are good bills that promote transparency and accountability, others see them as political cabals.
Whatever the motivations, both defy Gil’s goal to strengthen the office of Governor.
“Woe to those who call evil good and good evil” – Isaiah 5:20.
Crawford is a syndicated columnist from Jackson
13 comments:
So you are Tate man? Maybe he should have treated people better than just writing them off! Food for thought.
It is funny how all these up and comers spend their legislative careers weakening the governor or Ag as they salivate for higher office. Then when they finally make it state-wide, they wonder why they have no power. Lamar wants to be governor, no doubt in hopes to redeem a once prominent, now empty, Mississippi family name. And if he ever get’s to be governor he will realize all he can do is hold pressers on Facebook and cut ribbons.
Other examples: Fitch, that baker guy who we should probably check on because he is apparently missing. And of course, Tate himself.
Another example of how, in the absence of a health two party system, the party in power begins to eat itself.
No opposition party = MS GOP fights itself
Gil never heard of Isiah. He also never road a train before being put in charge of the Amtrak grid across this nation. For sure, though, he was a Volkswagen man in Meridian. He was more suited for a Volvo dealership.
But Tate was wearing a Yeti cap at one of his pressers during the great freeze of last week.
That makes him politically stronger than if he had been wearing a flimsy mesh cap with the word "STOKES" emblazoned on the front.
They may be thinking they want to limits Tater’s power, but these bills have long term effects. Mississippi doesn’t need all these Commissions and Boards. Really, Mississippi doesn’t need an elected a treasurer, AG, Agricultural Commissioner is Sec of State. Let the Governor appoint them. Let them be working positions rather than political positions.
4:47
I seriously want one of those stokes hats! #somethingneedstobedid
1:50
Seriously where is Baker?? I’m sure the public needs his arrogant smarter than thou wisdom!
When I think of those in leadership positions in Mississippi government, what comes to mind is the old 'circular firing squad'. Who will be the last man standing.
But, just imagine Queen Mary as State Auditor.
Why does MS have an Executive Branch? Window dressing?
3:18pm
You clearly didn't know Gil Carmichael.
I heard the "used car salesman" hit before I met him. It took me about ten minutes of talking with him to learn he was brilliant and extremely well read. I also learned I could count on his honesty and integrity.
But, his most valuable ability, was to not only to retain
details,but also see the systematic interaction and interdependence of details in any system so that he could envision how to make a system function better.
That is a rare ability.
I dare you to actually read the Mississippi Constitution and compare it to other States. There is one section that is so unintelligible, no one can be certain why it exists.
There is zero balance of power and less oversight function in Mississippi than in the other 49 States. That is why we win " most corrupt" every time that research is done!
The only improvements I've noticed, is that the corrupt get better at pulling the wool over the eyes of the public and succeed in normalizing their sleazy behaviors.
Bill Crawford certainly isn't a Tate Man. These structural decisions must be made with the longview in mind, well beyond the current occupant of the Governor's Mansion. We ought to be working to increase the governor's power because he's the most accountable to the voters. If you don't like the job he's doing, replace him, but taking his already weak power away is ludicrous.
The MS Legislature is quite literally no different than the White Citizens Council of old. It doesn't even pretend to want to adhere to a state or federal constitution unless it can line their pockets.
There should be no wonder why Mississippi is last place in everything.
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